Sailing Into the Unknown
by RedGem
Summary: When Harry leaves to confront Voldemort in the final battle, Ron and Hermione are left alone to follow him. Not knowing what will happen to any of them, Ron tries to tell Hermione how he feels about her.


Sailing Into the Unknown  
  
Author's Note: I wrote this story awhile back, late at night, by the faint light of my candle. It seemed much more foolish when I typed it out. I sent it to Sam and she sent it back with changes. Unfortunately I lost those corrections and so tried to read through and edit for myself. Hope it's not too awful. This is somehow the way I've always pictured Ron and Hermione, on a stormy, er, lake. Enjoy, Read and Review.  
  
Disclaimer: I am proud to say that I own Harry Potter.  
  
Nope, didn't fool myself either. So without further ado,  
  
Rain pelted Ron's face as he tried valiantly to row against the wind and currents. Hermione sat behind him, shivering under her soaked cloak, looking shocked and upset. Her hair was, for once, straight and flat and the rain sent tiny droplets down her face, mingling with silent tears until Ron couldn't differentiate between the two. She sniffled a little and whether it was from the cold or something else, Ron couldn't tell. Physical and emotional aches surrounded him like the raindrops. He looked forward to Hogwarts Castle. It was entirely dark. It surprised him that the castle could look so dark and foreboding. He had always considered it such a warm, inviting place. He had never once viewed it with the feeling he felt now: fear.  
  
*******  
Only that morning he had been safe and warm inside, in his bed. But all too soon this peace was shattered. They had been roused at dawn by the sound of screams. The castle was being attacked. The older students, who could defend themselves and perhaps help, were given the option to stay and fight. The teachers had tried to evacuate the younger students but had been ambushed near the Quidditch Pitch. It was.chaos, unrestrained and terrifying. Most of them ended up fighting anyway. They had no choice. The students and teachers stood with Hogsmeade residents trying desperately to repel the Death Eaters. Ron stood on the battle line with Harry and Hermione, all three hurling curses and trying to block or dodge enemy fire. Suddenly he found himself standing alone. His heart pounded as he searched for them, running between the makeshift soldiers and the bodies of his fallen comrades. His heart didn't stop when he saw Harry alone. He ran to his friend, unable to ask for fear that the worst was true.  
  
Harry replied to his unvoiced question. "Hermione is alright. She was taken prisoner while trying to perform a counter-curse for Lavender. The Death Eaters broke through the right flank and are marching on the castle. They say that He-Who-...Voldemort is leading them. I heard someone say that the prisoners were being marched to a clearing in the Forest. Here, take the Invisibility Cloak." He threw Ron the silvery garment. "Now go!" He urged.  
  
Ron eyed the cloak in his hands suspiciously. "But what are you going to do?" He saw the answer in his friend's solemn face. "But you can't!" He protested. "Not now, not alone!"  
"I have to face him," Harry replied. "Look around you, look at all of this. It has gone on long enough. Its me he wants, it's always been me."  
  
As much as Ron wanted to protest, he knew there was no dissuading Harry once he had made up his mind. "Aren't you going to need this?" He gestured toward the cloak.  
  
"I wouldn't use it anyway. I have to meet him, face to face. I can't hide forever. Good Luck."  
  
"You too." The two boys stared at each other for a moment and Ron wished he could say something else, something to tell Harry how much he meant to him, now that he was going off to face.Ron didn't want to think about it. But he looked back at his own feelings, mirrored in Harry's eyes and found it didn't matter. Harry understood.  
  
Ron threw the Invisibility Cloak over his head and ran toward the forest. He tried to look straight ahead and not at the carnage surrounding him. He didn't bother to pull on the hood because he didn't care about concealing his presence on the battlefield. No one would have noticed him anyway.  
  
Hiding became more difficult as he entered the forest. Twigs broke loudly under his feet whenever he tried to run. Frustrated and nervous, he forced himself to slow down. It was only then that he was able to have a good look around.  
  
Ron would have given a lot never to have seen what he did in that forest. The Death Eaters seemed to have designated a certain circular clearing in the forest to hold their prisoners. Oddly enough, there were no Death Eaters to be seen there. This face heightened rather than eased Ron's tensions. He couldn't help but shudder at the ghastly scene before him. Friends, acquaintances, stranger, even some Slytherins had been brought here suffering a variety of curses and other ailments. Many were stunned, others bleeding or deformed, and no one acknowledged Ron's presence. He spotted Hermione lying inert on the ground a little apart from the others. Blinded to the rest of the world, he ran and knelt down beside her.  
  
She was alive but stunned. Part of Ron was glad she was unconscious, hoping that she hadn't seen the other prisoners at the clearing. He picked her up and carried her body as fast as he could out of the forest. He didn't know where he was going. He needed to find a safe place to wake her up. After that, the two of them could go find Harry. He sat her down behind Hagrid's Hut, against the wall where they would be shielded from any stray curses. Ron tried to shake her awake. Then he remembered and pulled out his wand to whisper "Enervate." Hermione opened her eyes and Ron helped her rise to a sitting position.  
  
He tried to explain to her what had happened. Hermione just nodded, too overwhelmed to say anything at all. He helped her to her feet and they started off for the castle.  
  
The battle was winding down as most were too exhausted to continue fighting. Here and there they would see a burst of light, the only remnant of vast amount of magical power that had been assembled there that day. Most of the Death Eaters had gone, followed Voldemort on to his goal. Those left standing from their side were trying to help the injured. The village of Hogsmeade had been set up as a hospital but bodies still littered the Quidditch Pitch and the surrounding grounds. They walked on the outskirts of the battlefield, avoiding the worst hit areas. They tried not to look at the victims, afraid of who they might see.  
  
As they neared the castle they saw a faint aura of light surrounding it like a wall. "Siege wards," Hermione gasped. "Professor McGonagall must have put them up last night. She knew it was coming."  
  
"Are they everywhere?" Ron asked her, a hint of despair in his voice.  
  
"Nearly, everywhere but the lake and we can't-" but Ron had already grabbed her hand and was dragging her toward the lake. When they got there he looked around wildly, obviously searching for something. He went behind a bush and shouted "Aha! I thought it would still be here." Hermione was astonished. In front of Ron was a very old, very dilapidated, very muggle-looking rowboat. She almost laughed out loud.  
  
"Ron, where did you get this?"  
  
"It was back in our third year, remember, a million years ago. Percy took Penelope out on it for a 'study session'. I saw them out there and UGH!" Ron made a sound of disgust. "I wished my eyes were gouged out on the spot!" Hermione couldn't hold back any longer. They both laughed. For a moment they were thirteen years old again and disgusted at the very idea of, well, that. Ron got into the boat and held out his had for Hermione's.  
  
She eyed the little boat warily. "Ron I don't know about-" she started.  
  
Ron cut her off. "Hermione we have to get to the castle, for Harry."  
  
Just like that the spell was broken. They came back to earth and remembered what was happening. Silently, Ron helped Hermione into the boat and grabbed the oars. As they pushed off, a light rain began to fall around them, melancholy like their mood.  
  
********  
And here Ron was, in a tiny rowboat with Hermione, fighting with magic and might to cross the lake and get to Hogwarts Castle. At the first mention of Harry, both friends had gone silent, wondering what could be happening to him up there. What if they were too late? What if it was already all over? Ron tried not to think about this as he rowed, not allowing himself to look into Hermione's eyes and see his own fears mirrored there. He watched Hermione reach into her cloak pocket and pull out a spellbook shrunk to one-fourth its size and soaking wet. He smiled, then stopped.  
  
An entirely new fear had just occurred to him. What if it's not Harry who. I mean what if its Hermione? What if it's me? What if we all die in there! She would die, never knowing that I.how I...I mean this might be the last chance I have. I have to tell her.  
  
Unfortunately, this conclusion was far more easily reached in the mind than on the tongue. 'No!' He thought. 'I can't. But if I don't say anything, then something happens up at school, I may never get the change again. I'm going to do it.  
  
He steeled himself for a heartfelt confession. He opened his mouth to reveal his soul and-  
  
"Glunmpha," Was the first thing out of Ron's mouth. So much for the good start, he thought.  
  
"Excuse me? Ron did you say something?" "Um, yea. Erm, Hermione I want to say something to you." Ron put down the oars and turned around. Looking into Hermione's face required more courage than anything else he had done that day. But look he did. He saw Hermione, his best friend, freezing and wet, and thought she had never looked so beautiful. The idea both thrilled and terrified him.  
  
"Oh, Hermione you're cold! You probably should be at the hospital area right now, um, take my cloak!" He said all of this in a single breath, then quickly put the garment over her shoulders. He practically scurried to the other side of the boat.  
  
By this time Hermione was peering at him, eyes full of curiosity. Those eyes also contained an another inscrutable emotion, something long absent, was it hope?  
  
They were both silent for awhile, ostensibly looking at everything but each other, but every now and then stealing a glance when they thought the other wasn't looking.  
  
Ron didn't pick up the oars again. Their little boat was hopelessly adrift on a stormy sea. The laws of nature had somehow been temporarily suspended, for after giving up his cloak, Ron only felt warmer. Of course he really didn't feel any better for the tension was growing more and more unbearable.  
  
He heard Hermione take a deep breath and then clear her throat. He looked up at her quickly but she seemed very focused on something in her lap. When she did speak her voice contained an uncertainty Ron had rarely heard in it before. "Was there, um, something you wanted to say to me?"  
  
"No! I mean, yes there was something I wanted to say but I erm, wasn't sure whether and I didn't know how I would but anyway.Alright. I'm going to say something and I want you to let me get through the whole thing and don't interrupt me or anything or else I'll never be able to-Just let me get through it, okay. Will you do that Hermione?"  
  
Hermione whispered, "Yes," with another unreadable expression. Ron took a deep breath and continued. "Hermione we've known each other for a long time and well.but listen, I don't know what's going to happen up there in the castle-to either of us. So I wanted to say this in case I never get another chance." In perhaps the greatest burst of courage in Ron's life he took Hermione's hands in his own.  
  
"What I'm trying to say, and not very well at all, is that-" Here Ron turned his head and muttered something that sounded like "Ilofquwoo"  
  
Hermione suppressed a gasp to ask, "What did you say?" now with a hint of excitement in her voice.  
  
Ron couldn't breathe but managed to turn around and look her in the eye. "Hermione I love you. I just couldn't let you go without telling you.  
  
Hermione looked back into his eyes with more surprise and that queer little expression that Ron found to be the most surprising at all; it was love. Ron never felt so many emotions all once; surprise, relief, joy, love, and fear all spun circles around his head. His took her face in his hands and tentatively brought his lips to hers.  
  
It seemed to him that their little rowboat was spinning, faster and faster and pulling them toward each other with the centripetal force. Ron felt that the entire universe and suddenly shrunk to encompass two small bodies on the great sea of time and space. What did they care about the storm outside, for there was a storm inside. That first kiss was an outpouring of years of unrecognized and unvoiced love. Everything they ever thought or felt about each other came suddenly bubbling to the surface. Years of longing were exorcised in a single moment.  
  
When they came back to earth it was wonderful to find it had not all been some splendid dream. They broke apart but Ron didn't let go of Hermione's hands.  
  
"Ron, we're here." She looked around with amazement. It was true. Their little ship had drifted ashore.  
  
Ron didn't want to get out and leave that wonderful moment of recognition and love. He didn't want to do anything but relive the moment his lips touched hers, over and over in his head. But real life is always trespassing on fantasy and Ron was suddenly and violently recalled to his reality. Reluctantly he got out and helped Hermione climb onto the shore, still not letting go of her hand. They stood for a moment on the shore of the lake, looking from each other to the castle and back again. Then Hermione spoke.  
  
"I don't know what is going to happen up there, but no matter what does, Ron, I love you."  
  
Ron squeezed her hand but didn't say anything. He didn't have to. The two of them began to walk, still hand in hand, to meet their destiny. They didn't know what was coming, but when it did, they would face it together.  
  
The End 


End file.
